The study investigates whether auditors are inclined to allow the client to adopt aggressive reporting when at high risk of losing the client. The study was based on a case concerning the recognition of provisions. Two hundred practicing auditors in our experiment determined the amount of decommissioning obligation of the client's power plant. The results indicate that auditors in the Big Four CPA firms are inclined to accept lower decommissioning obligations when the risk of losing the client is high, whereas auditors in non-Big Four accounting firms are inclined to accept lower decommissioning obligations regardless of the risk of losing the client. Nonetheless, the client importance (the revenue contribution of the client to the audit firm) does not influence auditors' decision. Our results also show that auditors will tend to justify their decisions by citing the vagueness inherent in IFRS (i.e. whether a reliable estimate of amount of obligation can be made).